


Unintentionally Outed: We May As Well Embrace It

by MinnesotaSunshine (Crosby87Bennett19fan)



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-03-21 16:57:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 12,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3700016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crosby87Bennett19fan/pseuds/MinnesotaSunshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Paulie and Beau attempt to navigate their relationship under the watchful eyes of their overly-involved, nosy teammates</p><p>(** This will not be all about sex, but there are sexual parts to the story**)</p><p>(*** Even though it won't be stated specifically, all sexual scenes are consensual***)</p><p>(**** also if you read this story before 4/18/15, I changed the first chapter. After going back and reading it again it just didn't seem.....appropriate. So I made some changes, hope you don't mind xx ****)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> first attempt at M/M so bear with me! 
> 
> (Sorry the title and summary suck ass, i couldn't think of anything else :P)

Paulie wakes up when he hears a "Holy Fuck!"

When he looks to his left, he sees Beau sound asleep cuddled into his side.  _Weird_ , he thinks,  _if he didn't say it, who did?_

Paulie looks to the door, eyes growing wide when he sees Sid, Downs and Spals standing in the doorway, shocked.

He yanks the blanket up to his chin and let's out a weak "Hey Guys"

Sid is the first to speak "Hi Paulie."

"Um why are you guys here?" Paulie asks

"Team breakfast in 20 minutes, we came to get you up." Sid answers

"We knew you and Sunshine were sharing a room, but we didn't think you'd be sharing a bed too." Downs says with a smirk.

Paulie blushes involuntarily as Sid says "So are you guys....." While gesturing between Paulie and Beau (who's surprisingly still asleep) Paulie nods "Yeah, about..... 4 months?"

Sid nods."Well, we'll leave so you guys can get dressed, be downstairs in 15 minutes."

"Alright" Paulie says, "How did you guys get in here anyway?"

Spals speaks up, "Easy, we just went up to the front desk and asked for a key to the room since we lost ours."

Sid, Spals and Downs walk out the door after that.

Paulie just blinks at the door and starts to crawl out of bed, until Beau wraps his arms around his waist and whines at him.

Paulie lightly shoves Beau away and beau opens his eyes, pouting. "Cmon we gotta get up." Paulie says as he walks towards the bathroom.

"But 'm tired." Beau whines, yanking the blanket over his head.

Paulie rolls his eyes, _of all the guys in the world_  he thinks,  _I had to choose this immature goof_. He walks over to the bed and sneaks his hand under the blanket, grabbing Beaus foot and tickling it.

Beau kicks at him and growls. "Don't. Touch. My. Feet."

"Get your ass out of bed then."

"NO! Now leave me alone."

"If you get up right now, we can shower together...."

Beau's head jerks up at that,"Really?"

Paulie nods.

Beau jumps out of bed, stripping down to nothing and running to the bathroom. Paulie follows him in and gets in the shower, turning the water on.

"Oh and by the way." Paulie says "we don't have time for the fun stuff"

Beau looks at him, pouting."You evil human! I have to see you naked but I'm not allowed to do anything?!"

"Yep. But if you're good at breakfast, maybe you'll get something later..."

Beau groans, "that's not fair!"

"Sure it is. Oh and um, Sid, Spals and Downs walked in on us sleeping together this morning so they know we're together."

Beau pales at that "R-r-really?" He stutters. Paulie nods, getting out of the shower and wrapping a towel around his body.

Beau looks like he wants to cry. "T-t-they weren't supposed to know."

Paulie wraps a towel around Beau."it'll be okay, they didn't seem upset. In fact, they seemed really happy for us."

Beau gulps, "I just, what if it gets out to the rest of the league? What then?!"

Paulie looks at him, shocked. "Do you really think our friends would out us? Because they wouldn't, they know it isn't their secret to share."

Beau sighs, "you're right, I'm sorry I'm just...."

"Scared?" Paulie asks.

Beau nods.

"It's alright to be scared, hell I'm scared too. Now that they know we should probably tell the rest of the guys."

Beau let's out a shaky breath "okay."

Paulie smiles and pulls his pants on. "Cmon, get dressed we only have 5 minutes to get downstairs"

~they both get dressed and head downstairs. by the time they get there, everyone else is already sitting at tables enjoying their breakfast. They get their food and sit down at the empty chairs at Sid, Downs and Spals table.~

Paulie figures they already know so he may as well have some fun. He slides his hand under the table and up Beau's thigh.

Beau's breath hitches, and he gives Paulie a pleading look.

Paulie just gently moves his hand further up Beau's thigh until his finger tips are brushing against Beau's dick. He can feel Beau growing hard and places his hand over Beau's erection.

Beau groans involuntarily, mouthing  _"Stop."_

Paulie senses Beau's distress and stops, moving his had further down Beau's thigh, gently rubbing circles with his thumb.

Beau smiles at him, happy he stopped. Normally Beau doesn't mind if he does it but he's not really in the mood for it today.

-

Breakfast goes smoothly and they go back up to their room. Beau flops back down onto the bed and Paulie crawls in beside him

"So breakfast is over.... Should we get back to what we wanted to do this morning?" Paulie asks, tracing Beau's abs with the tip of his finger.

Beau nods, more than ready.

Paulie "helps" get his jeans down, yanking down his boxers with them, before getting on his knees and wrapping his mouth around Beau's dick.

It doesn't take long before Beau's cumming in Paulie's mouth and Paulie is eagerly swallowing every drop.

When he's done, Paulie lifts his head up and sends Beau a look that says  _"Did I do a good job?"_  Beau just looks at him before smiling and placing his lips on Paulie's.

20 minutes later, Beau is starting to fall asleep so Paulie helps him pull his jeans up and they fall into bed, drifting off for an afternoon nap.


	2. Chapter Two

A few hours later Paulie wakes up and tries to get out of bed but Beau grabs tighter around his hips, keeping Paulie from moving. 

  


Paulie just sighs, shaking his head and lays back down.

  


Not even 5 seconds later, Beau's got his head on Paulie's chest and his arms around Paulie's  torso. Paulie just absentmindedly runs his fingers through Beau's hair, thinking about the last 4 months and how they've been the best 4 months of his life. Unfortunately, he also starts thinking about the fact that both of their contracts are up after the season is over, him as a free agent and Beau as a restricted free agent. The thought of being on a different team than Beau is enough to bring tears to his eyes.

  


Paulie's not a crier, not in the slightest but the tears fall anyway. He figures he could just retire and go wherever Beau  goes  because he can't give up Beau, but he doesn't want to give up hockey either. 

  


He's so caught up in his thoughts he doesn't even realize that Beau's now awake, until he feels Beau's hand brush his cheeks, wiping away his tears.

  


Beau sits up then, playing with the hem of Paulie's  tshirt  for a moment before asking "Why were you crying?" 

  


Paulie sighs "I was just thinking about the offseason. Our contracts are up and we have no idea where we'll be next year. I don't want us to be separated."

  


Beau nods, "I don't want us to be separated either but what are we supposed to do?"

  


Paulie just shrugs because, there's nothing they really  CAN  do. If they aren't on the same team, they aren't on the same team. He stands up and walks towards the bathroom to fix his hair since they're supposed to go to team dinner in a half hour. Beau walks in and strips down to get in the shower. 

  


Paulie just rolls his eyes, "you're ridiculous! you just showered a few hours ago."

  


Beau just yells   "shut up, if I  want  to shower, I  will"

  


Paulie finishes fixing his hair and pulls a sweater over his white  tshirt  (semi-formal clothing for dinner tonight).

  


Beau gets out of the shower a few minutes later and walks around the room in his boxers in an attempt to find decent clothes. He finally ends up finding a decent shirt and a pair of dark wash jeans, slipping them on before pulling on his sneakers and walking to the bathroom to fix his hair. 

  


Once he's done, Paulie grabs their room key and tosses Beau his jacket, because the last thing Paulie wants to deal with is a sick boyfriend.

  


Beau rolls his eyes, taking the jacket and putting it on.

  


They walk out of their room and on the way downstairs, they agree to tell the rest of the guys that they're together at dinner. The rest of the team is waiting for them when they make it to the lobby and everyone files out to go to dinner

-

When they get to dinner they sit next to Sid and after everyone has ordered, Paulie gets everyone's attention, but as he's about to speak Beau jumps up from the table and bolts towards the back of the restaurant. 

-   
  
Everyone is shocked, including Paulie. He just stands up and walks in the direction Beau went. He gets to the back of the restaurant and walks into the men's room.    
  
When he walks in, he sees Beau standing in the corner visibly shaking. He walks over and instinctively pulls Beau into him, whispering  _ "It's okay" _  and  _ "Relax, you're alright" _  over and over again until Beau calms down and stops shaking. He lifts his head and looks up and Paulie can   _see_  the fear in his eyes. 

Paulie kisses him gently and grabs his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. 

Beau takes a deep breath before nodding, signaling that he wants to tell the guys. They walk out hand in hand and by the time they reach the table, the guys have pretty much figured it out but Paulie speaks up anyway.    
  
"So um some of you already know but most of you don't..............Beau and I are.... together. For about 4 months." He says, as he feels Beau start to shake again. 

At first the guys are all quiet  and Paulie is worried that they  don't  accept it, until the boys all breakout in mile-wide smiles, saying their congratulations.

After seeing that everyone has accepted it, Beau smiles and Paulie can _ see _  the fear and anxiety fade away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah snooze-fest, i know. I'm not sure where i'm going with this yet but i'm trying to figure it out.


	3. Chapter Three

The rest of dinner goes smoothly, with a few of the guys cracking some dirty jokes about Beau and Paulie. They both just brush it off, knowing its all in good fun and the boys aren't doing it in a malicious way so it's okay.

Soon, dinner is over and they all head back to the hotel to go to bed, they're travel ing  home tomorrow.

-

Paulie crawls into bed as soon as they get to their room while Beau uses the bathroom and changes into p a jamas . He slides into bed next to Paulie and Paulie snuggles up to him, pulling away quickly when he feels how warm Beau is. He wants to ask if he's feeling okay but when he looks at Beau, he can tell he's already asleep.

Paulie just pulls the blanket over himself and drifts off to sleep.

-

Paulie wakes up early the next morning to finish packing their bags, he lets Beau sleep though,just incase he's sick.

Beau's still sleeping when it's time to go so Paulie wakes him up and helps him get dressed before they head downstairs. When they reach the lobby everyone heads out and an hour later they're on a plane heading back to Pittsburgh.

-

They're not even on the plane 15 minutes before Beau's asleep, Paulie tosses a blanket over him before picking up a book to read. Beau sleeps the entire flight and only wakes up br iefly  to get off the plane before falling asleep in the car. 

When they pull into Paulie's driveway (which may as well be Beau's too) Paulie thinks about waking him up to go inside but he figures Beau shouldn’t be too hard to carry, so he picks him up and carries him inside and up to their bed before going back downstairs to make lunch.

-

By the time he's finished making lunch he expects that Beau will be up, however as Paulie turns off the stove ,  theres  no indication that Beau's awake. Paulie heads up to his room, walking in quietly and going over to the bed, brushing his fingers against Beau's forehead. 

He's feverish and at that point, Paulie knows he's sick. He's hoping  its  nothing and Beau will be fine when he wakes up but he doesn’t think that'll happen.

He's right, because as he goes to leave Beau wakes up, darting to the bathroom and Paulie can hear him getting sick.

Paulie walks in and sits on the floor next to Beau, running his fingers through Beau's hair and rubbing his back. After a few minutes Beau lifts his head and looks at Paulie sadly. 

Paulie helps him stand up and walks back to the bed with him, ignoring Beau's protest to  " stay away before you fucking get sick too dumbass "

Paulie promises to be right back and he leaves, coming back up a few minutes later with a bottle of water and a Gatorade. 

He tries to give Beau the water but Beau just shakes his head weakly and turns away, snuggling deeper under  the covers.

"You need to drink something." Paulie says and Beau just whines in response.  _ "Big baby" _  Paulie thinks. "C'mon, I don’t want to spend the day in emergency because you get dehydrated. Do you?"

Beau doesn’t even respond, just closes his eyes and tries to ignore the headache that's gotten progressively worse since this morning. 

Paulie  sighs  "Please?" 

Beau sits up, or well tries to and weakly reaches for the water bottle.    
  
Paulie breathes a sigh of relief and opens the bottle, handing it to Beau. Beau takes a tiny sip before handing it back to Paulie.

_ "Its  not much" _ Paulie  thinks   _"But it's better than nothing"_   He sets the  bottle on the nightstand and kisses Beau's forehead. "Promise me you'll keep drinking."

Beau nods weakly, pulling the covers up to his chin. Paulie turns to leave and once he reaches the door he hears a weak "My head hurts" and he can almost  _ hear _  the pout that he's sure is etched on Beau's face.

He walks into the bathroom, coming out with a couple advil and helps Beau sit up enough to take them without choking. After Beau takes them, Paulie lets him lay back down and leaves so he can rest.

-

As Paulie walks into the kitchen his phone rings and he answers without looking at the caller ID. 

"Hello?"

He hears Suttsy overly-happy voice reply  "Hey Paulie!" 

Paulie rolls his eyes "What do you want Suttsy?"

"You and Sunny need to come hang out with us, we're all at Sid's."

"We can't, sorry."

Brandon scoffs at that "why not? Too busy sucking each other off?"   
  
That- That pisses Paulie off, probably more than it should "Go to hell Sutter."

Brandon laughs and Paulie wishes he could jump through the phone to strangle him "So I'm right then eh?"

"No. If you must fucking know, he's fucking  _ sick _  Suttsy!  He's got a fever,he threw up a half hour ago,   he's slept all day and I'm fucking worried he's gonna get dehydrated!"

Brandon's quiet for a moment "I'm sorry, tell him I hope he feels better soon."

Paulie's silent and he hears Brandon sigh "Paulie? I was kidding about the sucking each other off thing. I wouldn’t have said it if I knew you were stressed and he was sick."   
  
Paulie sighs and he feels bad about yelling at Brandon " Its  fine  Sutts , I'm sorry I snapped at you. Tell the boys I'm sorry we can't make it."

"Alright Paulie, I will. You take good care of your boy alright?"   
  
"Alright Sutts, have a good time."

Brandon hangs up and Paulie puts his phone in his pocket, going over to his, now-cold, lunch and sitting at the table to eat.

-

After lunch, he hears his phone go off. He silently prays its not Suttsy again, Paulie loves the guy really but god is he annoying and Paulie doesn’t want to deal with him right now, and checks his phone. He sees it's a text from Beau  _ I'm Hungry :( :( :(  . _

Paulie texts him back  _I'll bring some toast, hold on_.  And before Beau can respond Paulie sends him   _DRINK YOUR WATER!!!! >:(_.  Paulie slips his phone back into his pocket and makes some toast, carrying it upstairs when it's done. 

He walks over to the bed and sets the plate down on the nightstand. Beau looks up at him and gives him a weak smile "Thanks Paulie".    
  
Paulie bends down and gives him a kiss on the forehead, smiling slightly when he realizes Beau doesn’t feel so warm anymore. "You're  welcome, let me know if you need anything else alright?"   
  
Beau nods "I wish I wasn’t sick" he says sadly "I want to cuddle"

Paulie feels bad, and thinks    _"_ _Who gives a damn if I get sick?"_. 

He walks over to the other side of the bed and climbs in, wrapping his arms around Beau's waist and resting his head on Beau's shoulder.

"Paulie! What are you doing, you're gonna get sick!" Beau says, his voice cracking at the end.   


Paulie just shrugs "So? You want to cuddle, we'll cuddle."

"I don’t want you to get sick though."   
  
Paulie rolls his eyes, "I slept next to you all night last night and I've been around you most of today, cuddling isn't going to make much difference at this point. I've already been exposed to your germs so if I get sick, I get sick"

Beau doesn’t say anything, just  presses  back into Paulie and sighs contently.  It only takes about 5 minutes before Beau falls asleep again and Paulie follows not long after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we see loving, caring, boyfriend!Paulie in his natural habitat ;D


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW in part of this chapter
> 
> Also, i am awful when it comes to anything sexual so please, don't judge too harshly. 
> 
> Thank you.

Beau wakes up a little while later feeling infinitely better, he debates getting up but decides against it, snuggling back into Paulie.  The subtle movement causes Paulie to wake up, and he smiles seeing Beau's head resting on his chest. Beau looks up at him and nuzzles his face into the crook of Paulie's neck.

Paulie runs his fingers through Beau's hair, "You feel any better?"   
  
Beau nods "A lot better actually, thank you for taking such good care of me."   
  
"You're welcome." 

After a few quiet minutes Beau sits up,  "I'm bored"

Paulie laughs "We can go downstairs and watch a movie if you want...... but you need a shower first, you stink"

Beau just sticks his tongue out at Paulie playfully before getting off the bed and undressing before walking to the bathroom. Paulie lays in bed for a few more moments before getting up and joining Beau in the shower.

Beau wasn't expecting company so when Paulie places a hand on his shoulder he jumps and yelps in surprise, almost falling face first into the wall.    
  
Thank god Paulie has quick reflexes and catches him before he has a chance to rearrange his face on the tile.

" little jumpy today are we?" Paulie says, a smile playing on his  lips.

Beau ignores the question and turns to Paulie "If  you're  gonna be in here, make yourself useful and soap me up."

_ Don't have to tell me twice _ Paulie thinks as he reaches for the soap, lathering up every inch of Beau's body, s pending a little extra time on his "private" area, rubbing Beau's  ,now-hard  dick  and gently squeezing his balls. 

Beau groans and pants.  Paulie knows Beau's about to cum and gives one final tug, pushing Beau over the edge. The sight of Beau cumming is almost enough to push Paulie over the edge too but before he has a chance to, Beau's on his knees with his lips wrapped around Paulie's cock, gently bobbing until he feels cum hit the back of his throat. He groans in pleasure and swallows it all.

He stands up, silently regretting giving a blow job in the shower because  _ fuck _ is the shower floor hard and now his knees hurt. He and Paulie help each other rinse off before stepping out of the shower. 

Paulie pulls on a pair of boxers and an old  t-shirt  before walking downstairs to make something for dinner, leaving Beau standing naked in the bathroom. Beau pulls on some boxers and a pair of pajama pants, along with Paulie's old University of Minnesota sweatshirt. He walks downstairs and sits at the counter, watching Paulie move effortlessly around the kitchen.

-

After dinner, they walk into the living room putting on  22 Jump Street . Paulie drops down onto the couch and Beau walks over, climbing on top of Paulie, his knee resting between Paulie's thighs. 

Paulie silently prays Beau doesn’t move. 

-

About half-way through the movie Paulie's phone goes off, its Suttsy and Paulie's tempted to ignore it but he's not that big of an asshole so he answers.

"Hey Paulie. How's Sunshine?"   
  
Paulie looks down at Beau, who's watching the screen intently with his head resting on Paulie's chest."He's better."   
  
"That's good..... oh hey, we're all still at Sid's if you guys want to come."   
  
Paulie blushes thinking back to when he and Beau  did  cum, roughly an hour and a half ago. Of course, that’s not the type of "coming" Suttsy's referring to. He coughs awkwardly "Um I don’t know, he's feeling okay now but he was pretty sick today."   
  
Beau looks up, mouthing a  _ "Who are you talking to?" _

Paulie mouths back  _ "Suttsy" _

Beau nods, turning his attention back to the movie.

"I'm sure he'll be fine Paulie" Suttsy says "Just come over."

Paulie sighs pausing the movie,  ignoring Beau's protest. "Suttsy wants us to go over to Sid's, all the guys are there. Are you up for it?"   
  
Beau nods "Sure, but not for too long  okay ? I'm getting kinda tired already."   
  
Paulie nods, "Alright, we'll be there in about 45 minutes I guess" He tells Suttsy.

"YESSSSSSSS! I knew I could wear you down old man." Suttsy says as he hangs up.

Paulie rolls his eyes and walks upstairs to their bedroom with Beau following him. They pull on some jeans and Paulie pulls on a black t-shirt while Beau keeps on the hoodie.

"Ready to go?" Paulie asks.

Beau shakes his head "Give me a minute" he says as he heads towards the bathroom.    
  
Paulie's worried he's getting sick again and is trying to hide it so they can still go to Sid's so he walks over and opens the door, breathing out a sigh of relief when he sees Beau's simply using the restroom. 

Beau turns and smirks "Geez Paulie, I had no idea you were so clingy. I can't even take a piss by myself" He says jokingly.

Paulie rolls his eyes "let's just go"

Beau laughs, flushing and washing his hands, flicking the leftover water at Paulie. 

Paulie just shakes his head at Beau's immaturity, wondering how somebody could be so childish. Then he realizes  Beau practically  _** is ** _  a child, at least compared to him, and he starts wondering why Beau would even want to be with someone so much older. 

He doesn’t even realize he's crying until he hears "What' s wrong? Did I do something? Paulie talk to me for  godssake !"

"Why do you want me?" Paulie blurts out and Beau's jaw drops.

_ Well fuck, _ Paulie thinks _ I could have handled that better _ _._     
  
"What do you mean "Why do I want you?" ?"   
  
Paulie takes a deep breath and blows it out, "I'm so  _ old _  and you're so  _ young _ . Why do you want to be with an old man like me?"   
  
Beau blinks "Are you serious right now? Do you really think I care that you're older than me? Because I don't. I love you Paulie. You make me happy, you take care of me, you comfort me when I'm sad. That's all that matters to me."

Paulie stands there shocked "You love me?" It was the first time either of them had said it and it caught Paulie off guard. 

One look at Beau tells Paulie it caught him off guard too "Y-y-yeah I do." Beau manages to stutter out.    
  
After a quiet moment he says  "I do love you, more than anything on this earth"   with much more conviction.

"Even hockey?" Paulie questions.   
  
"Even hockey." Beau answers, before pulling Paulie in and placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.

Paulie smiles and falls into Beau's embrace. "I love you too."


	5. Chapter Five

 

They get to Sid's about a half hour later, and as soon as they walk in Suttsy's trying to force drinks into their hands. Paulie rolls his eyes and takes it, while Beau turns it down. Suttsy pouts "C'mon, live a little!"

Beau opens his mouth to answer but Paulie beats him to it "Leave him alone Suttsy, he probably shouldn't be drinking anything besides water and  Gatorade just in-case his stomach can't handle anything else right now  ."

Brandon continues to pout and Paulie wants to smack him because really, how stupid can he be?    
  
"Suttsy, stop being a child. He doesn’t want a drink so drop it."

Beau just watches the interaction, not really seeing the big deal. "Paulie it's not really a big deal, relax"   


Paulie just walks away, leaving Beau and Brandon standing there.

After a few moments Brandon looks to Beau  "What's up his ass?" 

Beau shrugs "I don’t know. He doesn’t usually get upset over stupid shit, something else must be going on."

Brandon nods "But what? You know him better than pretty much everyone, have you noticed anything?"

"No.  He's probably just exhausted, he's had  a l ot  of minutes lately and it's probably starting to take a toll on him."   
  
"You're probably right." Brandon says, "So, I heard you were sick. Feelin' better?"   
  
Beau just blinks at him "Yeah, if I wasn’t I wouldn’t be here"   


Suttsy just nods "Well, I need another drink." and walks away. 

-  
  
Beau walks in the direction Paulie went, finding him out on the balcony. "Hey......"

Paulie turns to look at him before turning back to his beer. "Hi"

Beau walks over and sits in Paulie's lap "What's wrong? You almost took Suttsy's head off in there."

"I don't know, I guess I'm  just tired and it finally got to me."   
  
"Yeah it did,we can go home and go to bed if you want."   
  
Paulie shakes his head "No, it' s fine. I'll be alright."

"Okay" Beau says, leaning back into Paulie kissing his neck and behind his ear. Paulie shivers slightly, taking a sip of his beer and letting Beau basically do whatever he wants. 

After a few minutes, Beau stops and cuddles into Paulie. Paulie feels him shiver and suggests they go inside. Beau's been sick and he's finally feeling better, Paulie doesn’t want him to start feeling worse. They get up and go inside, walking into Sid's living room and Paulie sits down in between Sid and Downs, pulling Beau down into his lap.    
  
"Oh hey, I didn’t know you guys were here" Sid says "Feelin' better Sunshine?"

Beau nods slightly, turning and nuzzling his face into Paulie's shoulder. Paulie rubs his back slowly. 

"That’s good" Sid says, turning his attention back to NHL Network.

They sit there for a little while before Beau yawns and rests his head on Paulie. Paulie decides its time to go home so he and Beau say their goodbyes, heading home and going straight up to bed.

-

Paulie wakes up the next morning and smiles when he sees Beau sleeping peacefully next to him.  He sighs before moving to leave the bed. As he gets up he hears Beau whimper in his sleep, before turning over and pulling the covers over his head. Paulie thinks about waking him, they have practice in an hour and a half, but Beau just looks so precious and Paulie doesn’t have the heart to wake him just yet.

Paulie walks downstairs and starts the coffee pot before walking to the front door and grabbing the news paper. He pours himself a cup of coffee and sits down at the kitchen table to read the paper, after another half hour he decides that it's time to get Beau up so they're not late.

He walks upstairs and gently pulls the covers off Beau, smiling to himself when he sees how messy Beau's hair is and how there's a small spot of drool on his pillow. He runs his fingers through Beau's hair, "C'mon babe, it's time to get up"    
  
Beau just whines at him and rolls over, burying his face in the mattress. 

"You have to get up, we have practice."   
  
Beau sighs, sitting up and rubbing his eyes before glaring at Paulie tiredly. He stands up and walks towards the bathroom, while Paulie gets dressed. Beau comes out a few minutes later, getting dressed slowly before yanking on his sneakers and pulling a beanie on. He yawns and rubs his face again, following Paulie downstairs.

-

Practice goes well, except for the part where Beau was practicing net-front and Downs took a hard shot that got deflected up between Beau's legs. Which , _ouch_   , and as bad as it sounds, Paulie's kinda happy it wasn't him.

It looked like it hurt a little, a puck there can't feel very good and Paulie shudders at the thought of getting hit  there . But Beau handled it pretty well, ya know aside from swearing and sitting out for the last 10 minutes of practice. 

-

When they get home Paulie starts lunch and Beau goes right upstairs to take a nap. About an hour later Beau's awake and lunch is ready. After they eat Paulie suggests going out to  the  park for a walk, so they pull on some sneakers and Beau puts his beanie back on and they walk out the door, jogging down to the park that’s roughly  two blocks  or so from Paulie's house.

They walk the park for a while, not really stopping, before they decide to head home. As they go to leave, a little boy who looks to be about 5 comes up to them crying. 

Paulie crouches down so he's eye-level with the little boy " Whats  wrong buddy?"

"I lost my mommy, I don’t know where she is." The little boy sniffles.    
  
Paulie tells the little boy that they can sit on the bench, and his mommy will probably come looking for him. About 15 minutes later a frantic woman comes up to the bench, taking the little boy into her arms, thanking Paulie and Beau profusely for finding her son. They just smile and tell her it wasn’t a big deal.

As she's leaving it seems to dawn on her that they play for the Penguins, so she  comes back  over as  they're  getting ready to leave.

"Excuse me? I know you're probably busy but my husband is a huge Penguins fan, I was wondering if you could maybe sign something for me to give him." She almost looks nervous, as if they're going to yell at her to leave them alone.

Beau gives her a warm smile "Absolutely"    
  
She visibly relaxes, handing him a notepad and a sharpie "Thank you so much, he's going to be thrilled."   
  
Beau signs the notepad before handing it off to Paulie "You're welcome, tell your husband we said  thanks  for the support"   
  
The woman nods, taking the notepad when Paulie hands it to her. "I will,  have a good night." She says as her and her little boy walk away.

Paulie smiles, taking Beau's hand in his as they walk out of the park. They walk in silence the whole way home, they head upstairs to shower and change into pajamas.

A little while later they're cuddling on the couch watching some cheesy movie, about halfway through, Paulie pauses it and Beau looks up at him.

"Why'd you pause it?"   
  
Paulie takes a deep breath and releases it "I've been thinking, we've never actually gone on a real date. And we never will if we don't come out."   
  
Beau blanches at that "Y-y-you want to come out? Publicly?"

Paulie nods  slightly , "I mean, I'd like to be allowed to kiss my boyfriend or hold his hand in public. Besides, the only people who really matter are our teammates and families. They already know about us and they're okay with it. If the rest of the world doesn't accept it then fuck them"

Beau breathes out shakily "I know but....... I'm scared." the tears start to fall and Paulie quickly wraps his arms around Beau, pulling him into his lap and drying his tears.

"Shh. It's  okay , I'm scared too but we need to come out at some point if we ever want to be able to have any sort of relationship outside the house ."

Beau nods meekly "I guess you're right. I just, I didn't want to be the first you know?"

Paulie nods  "I didn't want to be the first either but, if we come out together maybe it will be less terrifying."

"Maybe. I guess if you want to we can, as long as you promise me you won't leave me if this goes bad."   


Paulie is slightly shocked Beau would even **_ think _ **  Paulie would leave him over the possible negative reactions from people who mean virtually nothing to them. "  Beau, look at me" He says, gently grabbing Beau's chin and turning his head so he's looking Paulie in the eyes.

 " We'll do this together and no matter what people say, I'm not going to just up and leave you . _ **I promise**_ "


	6. Chapter Six

They decide that they'll make an announcement tomorrow, so Paulie calls the media relations people and they set up a press conference. Afterwards, Paulie and Beau go up to bed.    
  
Paulie falls asleep right away but Beau can't get his brain to settle down, continuing to toss and turn. Around 4 am, Paulie wakes up, asking if Beau's slept at all and Beau just shakes his head tiredly. Paulie sighs and pulls Beau into him, rubbing his back slowly with one hand and combing through his hair with the other until he hears Beau's breathing slow as he falls asleep. 

Paulie doesn’t let go though, just stops the movement and snuggles closer to Beau, falling asleep.

-

Paulie wakes up when his alarm goes off at 9, stretching before getting out of bed as carefully as possible so he doesn’t wake Beau up.    
  
His efforts are for nothing because as soon as he stands up, Beau's awake rubbing at his eyes tiredly and looking at Paulie through half-lidded eyes. 

He looks exhausted and Paulie  knows its  because of him. He's forcing Beau to do something he's obviously terrified of.    
  
That makes Paulie feel so guilty, it  feels like he's drowning.    
  
Beau crawls out of bed, going to the bathroom for a quick shower and getting dressed in semi-decent clothes since he needs to look presentable if they're going to do this. Paulie does the same and by 9:45, they're out the door and headed to  Consol  for the press conference at 10:30.

Beau's not expecting any of their teammates to be there since practice isn't until 11:30 so he's shocked when they walk into the media room and all the guys are there, leaning against the wall.

Paulie notes the look on Beau's face and sees some of the tension in his body melt away. Paulie smiles, glad he decided to tell the guys about it and even more thrilled they wanted to be there. He and Beau need all the support they can get.

-

10:30 rolls around and Paulie's nerves go up about 500% but he pushes them away, he doesn’t want Beau to know how scared he is because he doesn’t want Beau to be scared. 

Various media members file into the room, filling the seats. Mario goes up to the podium first, explaining to the room that there is very important information that is about to be shared, before signaling for a video to play.    
  
It's  a "You Can Play" video, and it's Sid. 

He must have done it early today  Paulie thinks as he locks eyes with Sid, who gives him a slight nod.

Paulie hears the words  _"If you can play, you can play"_   as the video comes to a close and it gives him all the courage he needs, hoping it does the same for Beau.    
  
When he looks towards Beau, he sees how much more relaxed he is, not quite as frantic as he was. 

-

The media room breaks out into confusion, as the reports are trying to figure out why they showed a "You Can Play" video. Through the hysteria, Mario raises his hand up and everyone shuts their mouths.

"I know you're all confused right now and I promise, you'll get answers shortly" He says, signaling for Beau and Paulie to come up to the podium.    
  
They walk up  hand-in-hand, ignoring the quizzical looks and stand behind the podium. Before either of them can speak, hands are up in the air, and people are yelling out questions.

Mario looks to Paulie, to see if he wants to take questions or explain the situation first. Paulie nods to take questions, thinking that might be easiest.

Paulie takes the lead and points towards one reporter, signaling for them to speak.

"Are you homosexual?"   
  
Paulie nods, as does Beau, before selecting another reporter.

"Are you two together?"   
  
Paulie clears his throat "Yes. 4 months. Next question" 

"This ones for Mario, are you going to allow the relationship to continue?"   
  
"Of course, nobody in this organization cares what they do in their personal lives as long as it doesn’t negatively affect their performance in practice and games or reflects poorly on the organization. I have no authority to tell either of them they can't be happy."

The reporter nods as another reporter speaks. "Paul , how weird is it to know you’re almost 11 years older than your partner ? Do you ever feel like a dirty old man?"

Paulie takes a shaky breath, trying to hold back the tears in his eyes  because _ yes, he does feel like a dirty old man. _ He opens his mouth to answer but before he can, Beau's talking.

"I'm pretty sure it's none of your business how big the age difference is." He says, a malicious tone to his voice.

"It's kind of disgusting though. 23 and 34 is a huge gap, why would you even   _want_  to be with somebody who's so much older."

Paulie swears to god Beau's about to strangle this guy.    
  
"I love him. I could care less how old he is, and really it's none of your business why I'm with him to begin with."

The reporter continues to press on, seemingly unaware that he's really starting to piss everyone off, not just Beau. Before he can get out another question, Mario has him escorted out and makes it perfectly clear he  **_ will not _ **  be allowed in the media room or the locker room again. The guy tries to protest but he's taken out of the room before he has a chance.

"If anyone would like to make comments in a rude or crass way, you can leave right now and never come back." Mario says.

The whole room stands stunned.

Mario looks at his watch, it's almost 11. "One more question. "

A reporter speaks up "What made you two come out? Is it so other players who may be in the closet have the courage to come out?"   
  
"Partially, but we did it more for ourselves. We want to be able to go out and be a couple but we can't do that if we hide our relationship from the public." Paulie answers.   
  
The reporter nods and Mario walks back up to the podium "Thank you all for coming, before you go be aware that any homophobic remarks made in regards to our players, including Beau and Paul, you will lose every right to interview any of our players in any form."

The reporters all nod stiffly before filing out. 

As soon as the reporters are gone, Paulie breaks. Tears falling down his cheeks, he's sobbing uncontrollably and Beau pulls him in for a hug, brushing his fingers through Paulie's hair, rubbing his back slowly and pressing his lips to Paulie's forehead .

The rest of the guys stand there watching the interaction before leaving to get ready for practice.

-

Paulie stops crying soon thereafter and Beau presses a gentle kiss to his lips.

"I'm sorry."   
  
Beau shakes his head "Don't be. That asshole had no right to talk to you like that."   
  
"I know but...... I was supposed to be strong and I- I couldn’t be, I cried like a baby."   
  
"It's okay Paulie. You were strong, I would have  cried the minute they said anything mean to me."

Paulie laughs, wiping his eyes. 

Beau smiles, happy Paulie isn't sad anymore. He doesn’t like it when Paulie's sad. "Let's go, we need to get ready for practice"

-

They get down to the locker room and the guys all give them pats on the back. Mike walks in a few minutes later.

"Beau, Paulie." He says "You guys can go home if you'd like, I know this morning has been very emotionally taxing."

Paulie shakes his head "If everyone else needs to be here, so do we."  Beau nods in agreement. 

Mike shrugs "Alright. I was just giving you that option."    
  
They pull on their gear and head out to the ice. Practice is fast-paced and hard but Paulie doesn’t care, he feels like there's a huge weight off his shoulders and that makes him feel like he can do anything.

The thought of being sore later doesn't escape him, but he doesn't bother to think about it.


	7. Chapter Seven

Later on they're back home, cuddling on the couch as NHL Network plays in the background. Neither of them are paying much attention to the TV but when they hear "Paul Martin and Beau Bennett, the first out NHL players" their heads snap towards the screen.

_  Patrick Burke is there and so are EJ Hradek and Steve Mears , well duh it's their show, and EJ starts off the segment. _

_ "So obviously some pretty big news out of Pittsburgh today as Defenseman Paul Martin and Forward Beau Bennett came out as homosexuals and as partners. We're joined in studio today by Patrick Burke, who is heavily involved with the "You Can Play" Project, a movement created to end homophobia in the locker room. Patrick, thank you for joining us."   
  
"Thank you for having me." Patrick says. _

_ "So obviously, they're the first to come out, what do you think this means for the future of "You Can Play" and the NHL Patrick?" Steve asks. _

_ "Well  I have to say, kudos to them, I can't imagine that it would be easy to be the first. I'm hoping this gives courage to other players ,who may still be in the closet, to come out and be proud of who they are." Patrick answers _

_ Steve nods. "Now there was also an incident today at the press conference where a media-member was, quite-frankly, disrespectful to both Martin and Bennett. He brought up their age difference which I think is a fair thing to question, but he did it in a crass manner and ended up having his media privileges ripped out from under him.  The question I want to ask is what do you think of the age difference? Bennett is 23 while Martin is 34, so that's roughly 11 years."   
  
"I don’t see a huge problem with it, they're adults. It's not like we're talking about a 13 year old and a 24 year old here. There's nothing wrong with the age difference in my opinion." Patrick says. EJ and Steve nod in agreement. _

_ "Alright thank you to Patrick Burke for joining us, next up we have the ruling from the Matt Cooke hearing for his late hit on Andrew Shaw." _

Paulie takes the remote,  shuts the TV off   and sits  up, much to Beau's dismay. 

" Paulieeee " He whines "Don't move, I'm comfy."   


Paulie rolls his eyes "Too bad, now move your big butt so I can get up"

Beau looks at him, shocked "I do _NOT_ have a big butt."   


"Yes you do" Paulie says, pinching Beau's butt and smirking when Beau jumps in surprise "But it's a very cute butt."   
  
Beau just huffs at him and Paulie laughs, "C'mon goofball, let's go."

Beau doesn't get up. Instead he grinds down into Paulie's lap, smirking when Paulie groans involuntarily.    
  
"Stopppp." Paulie says.

"Tell me my butt isn't big!" Beau demands, grinding down once more.

Paulie groans "Your butts not big, it's perfect, you're perfect."   
  
Beau grinds down one last time before stopping and looking Paulie right in the eyes. 

"I know I am" He says before sliding off Paulie's lap.   


Paulie just sits there, kind of happy Beau stopped but a little upset he left him hanging "You're such a fucking tease, you know that?"   
  
Beau just gives him an innocent grin "You told me to stop, so I did."

"I'll be back." Paulie says, standing up to go finish what Beau started.   
  
"I could help you..." Beau says, reaching forward.

Paulie gently pushes his hand away "Nope. You don't get to touch now."   
  
"But...." Beau says before being cutoff by Paulie pressing a finger to his lips. 

"No buts. You want to be a little tease, that's fine. But you're not allowed to finish the job."   
  
Beau pouts at him and Paulie just walks off to their bathroom upstairs.

-

A little later Paulie comes back downstairs and looks for Beau. He sees Beau's car keys are gone so he pulls out his phone and calls Beau, worried.

Beau answers on the third ring "Hi."   
  
"where are you?"   
  
"Relax, I just went to the drug store. I've got a headache and we're out of advil."   
  
Paulie breathes out a sigh "You should have come and got me, I would have went and got it for you."   
  
"It's fine . I'm almost home  okay?"   
  
"Alright, I'll see you soon then. I love you."   
  
"Love you too"

Paulie hangs up the phone and Beau walks in the door. Beau kicks off his sneakers and heads towards the stairs.

"I'm going to go lay down."   
  
Paulie nods "Alright, can I come too?"   
  
Beau laughs "It's your house, of course you can come."   
  
"It's pretty much your house too, and if you don't feel great it's okay if you want to be alone."   
  
"Paulie, I'm fine. It's just a headache, I'm not dying. Come up and cuddle me." Beau says, walking up the stairs.

Paulie follows him up and crawls into bed next to Beau. Beau takes the advil before turning towards Paulie and nuzzling his face into the crook of Paulie's neck. He falls asleep pretty quick and Paulie follows.


	8. Chapter Eight

Paulie wakes up a couple hours later to an empty bed, which surprises him since Beau usually sleeps longer. He rolls out of bed and puts on his glasses, walking downstairs to see if he can find Beau.

When he gets downstairs, he sees a few of their teammates are there. 

"Hi babe." Beau says, walking over to him and giving him a kiss.

"Hi" Paulie says "Um why are the guys here?"   
  
"Oh um they just dropped by. I hope that’s okay" Beau says nervously

Paulie smiles "It's fine. It's your house too remember? You're allowed to invite people in without my permission. I'm going to go put some actual clothes on, I 'll be right back."   
  
Paulie walks back upstairs to get dressed. As he's getting ready to go back downstairs Beau walks in.

"Miss me already?" Paulie says teasingly.

"Totally." Beau says, walking towards the bathroom.

Paulie follows him in and sits on the counter.

"Can  I  help you?" Beau says, laughing.

"No, you go ahead and do what you need to "

"Get out." Beau says, pointing towards the door.

Paulie scoffs "I've seen your dick before, you have nothing to hide."   
  
Beau squirms a little "C'mon, leave. I really gotta go."

"So go. What's stopping you?"   
  
" _Paulieee_." Beau whines.

" _ Beauuu _ " Paulie says, mocking him.

 He walks  out though  because, while it's so much fun to tease Beau, he knows when enough is enough. Beau walks out a couple minutes later and pulls Paulie off the bed.

"You suck." Beau says.

"And you swallow." Paulie counters.

Beau rolls his eyes "And people say  **_ I'm _ **  the immature one."

"That's because you are. Now c'mon we have guests downstairs."   
  
Beau nods "We should probably get back down there, they're gonna think we were sucking each other off or something."

"Well, we  could  probably do that before we go...." Paulie says, trailing off.

"As much fun as that sounds, I really think we should get back down there before they destroy your house."   
  
" _ Our _  house" Paulie corrects.

"Right" Beau says, taking Paulie's hand "Our house"

-

A couple hours later, the guys are gone and Paulie's laying in bed watching Beau change. Beau crawls in next to him a few minutes later and wraps his arms around Paulie's waist, yawning.

A few quiet  minutes later Beau sits up. "What are you thinking about?"   
  
Paulie just shrugs "It's not important"   
  
"Yes it is."   
  
Paulie sighs "I want a baby."

Beau sits there, shocked. They've only been together a few months, granted they've known each other for a couple years now and Paulie would totally make a great daddy, but still. "You do?"   
  
Paulie nods "I know I shouldn’t have said anything."

Beau shakes his head "I'm glad you told me. I just- I don't think I 'm ready for a baby yet."   
  
"I figured." Paulie says.

Beau can tell he's a little upset "Why don't we get a puppy first?"

Paulie smiles at that "That's a good idea."   
  
"Alright, then we'll go pick one out at the shelter tomorrow." Beau says, yawning "But for now, let's go to sleep."   
  
Paulie doesn't even get a chance to respond before Beau's fast asleep, his head resting on Paulie's chest.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, this chapter kinda sucks. I'm sorry >.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so i'm awful. Sorry it took so long for me to update, the last few weeks have been stressful and i just haven't felt like writing. 
> 
> Enjoy <3

 

The next morning, Paulie wakes up and slides out of bed, careful to not wake Beau up. He walks downstairs and starts breakfast, thinking about what Beau said about maybe getting a puppy. He realizes that with their schedule, a puppy isn't really a practical idea.    
  
Of course, he's the idiot who suggested a baby and an infant would be even harder to care for given their schedule. 

 

Paulie sighs , turning on the coffee pot and grabbing  some plates and glasses. He grabs the orange juice out of the fridge, pouring some into a glass before turning and pouring coffee into his mug. He's just finishing dishing up the food, when Beau walks in.

 

"Morning." Beau says, voice still heavy with sleep.

 

Paulie walks over and kisses his forehead "Morning. I was thinking, maybe a puppy isn't such a great idea. We're never home so why bother getting one?"   
  
Beau nods "I know. I wasn't thinking about practicality when I said it, I was just trying to make you happy ."

 

"Thank you, it made me feel a lot better last night. I'm sorry I dropped the baby thing on you."   
  
Beau shakes his head "It's okay. I told you last night, I 'm happy you said something."   
  
Paulie gives him another kiss. "Now eat your breakfast before it gets cold."   
  
-

 

After breakfast Paulie suggests they go  for a walk  since they don't have practice. They run into Brandon about 10 minutes into their walk , so he joins them. 

 

 A half hour later, they say good-bye to Suttsy and head home. Paulie walks into the living room and flops down onto the couch, turning the tv on. Beau walks in a couple minutes later and lays down on top of Paulie, tracing shapes on Paulie's chest.   
  
Paulie runs his fingers through Beau's hair, absentmi ndedly watching some stupid show. 

 

"Paulie?" Beau says, pulling Paulie from his thoughts.

 

"Hmm?"    
  
"What do you think  i s going to happen in the offseason?"   
  
Paulie's hand stops moving, and he swallows hard. "I don't know... let's talk about that when we get there okay?"   
  
Beau nods, "Okay. Can we go take a nap?" He says, yawning. 

 

"Sure." Paulie says, suddenly realizing he's tired.    
  
Beau stands up, walking upstairs  and Paulie follows him. By the time Paulie's in the bedroom, Beau's already asleep.

 

Paulie secretly wishes he had the ability to fall asleep that fast.    
  
He lays down and pulls Beau into him, smiling when Beau moans quietly and buries his head in Paulie's chest. 

 

-

 

Paulie wakes up an hour later with Beau still fast asleep, sprawled on top of him. Paulie sighs, knowing there's no way he'll be able to get up without waking Beau.

 

He turns slightly, and grabs his glasses off the nightstand before turning the TV on.    
  
He nearly jumps out of his skin as the TV blares. He quickly turns it down, relieved to see that Beau hadn't been disturbed in the slightest. 

 

Roughly 30 minutes and one moronic program later, Beau stirs. He stares up at Paulie through half-lidded eyes, a sleepy smile etched on his face.

 

"Morning sleepyhead" Paulie says "Have a nice nap?"

 

Beau barely nods before curling into Paulie, sighing contently. 

 

This is pretty par for the course, Beau almost always cuddles into Paulie just after waking up. Paulie finds it completely adorable of course, even though he's 95% sure Beau isn't even completely awake when he does it.

 

Finally, after about 15 minutes, Beau pushes away from Paulie and sits up, kicking the blankets off.   

 

"How long were we asleep?" Beau asks.

 

Paulie looks at the clock. "Well  I  slept for about an hour, you were out for an hour and a half."

 

A blush creeps up on Beau's cheeks "Sorry."   
  
"Don't be sorry. You were obviously tired, how could I make you apologize for sleeping?"    
  
Beau shrugs "I don't know."   
  
Paulie decides that the conversation is going no where fast so he changes the subject. "How about we go shower? We have that fund raiser tonight."   
  
Beau nods, standing up and stripping before walking to the bathroom. Paulie follows close behind and the wash each other quickly before stepping out of the shower and wrapping each other in towels. Beau brushes his teeth and dries his hair with the towel, lowering it just  in time  for a pair of boxer briefs to hit him in the face.

 

He glares playfully at Paulie and pulls them on while Paulie sits on the bed, howling with laughter. He walks over to Paulie's closet, coming out with a Golden Gophers hoodie that smells just like Paulie and a pair of his own jeans. 

 

When he walks out, Paulie takes one look at him and laughs.    
  
"What?" Beau asks, confused.

 

"You're really going to wear my hoodie to a fundraiser?"   
  
Beau nods slowly"Yeah.... it's at a bowling alley. I figured a hoodie would be acceptable. "   
  
"Alright, whatever makes you happy." Paulie says, pulling on a black t-shirt and dark wash jeans. He walks into the bathroom to brush his teeth and Beau follows close behind, grabbing the hair gel from the counter. 

 

"Can you help me?" He says, holding the container out to Paulie. "I can never get it spiky enough."   
  
Paulie rolls his eyes, taking the container "9 times out of 10, you're wearing that stupid beanie anyway."

 

"My beanie is _**NOT**_ stupid, it's stylish!" Beau screeches. 

 

"Uh-huh, no wonder everyone says you have terrible fashion sense."   
  
Beau huffs "I have amazing fashion sense."   
  
"You once wore a tracksuit to a movie premiere. Your argu ment  is invalid." Paulie says as he finishes spiking Beau's hair. "C'mon, we need to leave."   
  
Beau follows him downstairs and out to the car, pouting the whole time.   
  
"Your face is going to freeze like that" Paulie says as they pull out of the driveway.

 

Beau doesn't respond, just turns on the radio.

 

Paulie rolls his eyes  _It's gonna be a long night_.


	10. Chapter Ten

They pull up to the bowling alley a half hour later. Paulie pulls the keys out and turns towards Beau, gently grabbing his arm so he can’t get out of the car.

"What's wrong?"

Beau doesn't say anything, just pulls out of Paulie's grasp and gets out of the car.

Paulie  sighs , getting out of the car and following Beau into the building.

Suttsy meets him at the door. "Hey Paulie, what's up with Sunshine? He's not sunshine, more like..............rain cloud, today."

"He's mad at me for teasing him about how he dresses."   
  
Suttsy laughs "He has horrible fashion sense. Good for you for letting him know."

"I still feel bad about it, I think he's genuinely upset."   
  
Suttsy nods "He totally is." He gives Paulie a little shove "Go make this right"

Paulie starts to walk away when he hears "KEEP IT PG, THERE ARE CHILDREN HERE!"

He turns around to see Brandon laughing hysterically. He calmly flips him off before walking over to where Beau is sitting, in between Sid and Downs.   
  
"Hi." Paulie says awkwardly.

Beau takes a sip of his drink "Hi."

"Listen, about the thing at the house, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you so upset, I was just joking around."   
  
Beau doesn't say anything for what feels like forever and Paulie thinks it could be over between them. Then, Beau smiles that stupid crooked smile.

"It's okay, I'm sorry I took it so personally." He stands up, walking over and inserting himself between Paulie's arms.

They stay like that for a few minutes, until Sid stands up and gently pries them away from each other.

"While it's wonderful your little "lover's spat" is over, we have a charity event to start."    
  
Beau glares at him and  Sid  just laughs. " You don't scare me, _**rookie**_."

"I'm not a rookie anymore and you know it!" Beau says.

Sid rolls his eyes "Still a rookie to me kid."

Beau groans "Stop. Go pick on Derrick, **HE'S** an actual rookie."

"You're more fun to tease though." Sid says "Now come on, your lane is next to mine so I can keep an eye on you."

"I don't need a baby sitter, asshole."

"Maybe not, but you should look into anger management classes."

Beau glares before walking away.

Sid follows him and continues pestering him. Finally, Beau's had enough.

"Whoever says Sidney Crosby isn't an annoying asshole, obviously hasn't been around you very much."   
  
Sid puts a hand over his heart "Sunshine, that hurts. That really hurts. You're like the little brother I never had and now you go and stab me in the heart."

"You should have been an actor."  Beau says sarcastically.

Sid lowers his hand, rolling his eyes. "I'm serious Beau, you're like a little brother to me. I'll protect you and  I 'll help you with your problems because that's what brothers do. However, brothers also argue and tease each other relentlessly, which I 'm sure you already know."

"Thanks.......Squid." Beau says, a hint of mischief in his bright blue eyes.

Sid gapes "WHO TOLD YOU ABOUT THAT?!"

"Nobody." Beau says, not wanting to get Flower in trouble (mostly because Flower is the prank-master and Beau **_really_** doesn't want to deal with that).

"Uh-huh. I'll find out you know, nobody keeps secrets from the captain." Sid says, dead serious.

Beau laughs "Whatever you say Sid."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, not alot of Paulie/Beau in this one. For some reason i love Beau/Sid having a brotherly-type bond. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think!!


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING, MENTIONS OF ASSAULT.

A few hours later, the event is over and Paulie's exhausted. All he wants is to go home and fall into bed, he's about to get up and go find Beau, when Beau finds him instead.

"Hey babe" Paulie says "Ready to go home?"

Beau shakes his head slowly "Some of the guys are going out for drinks and......"

Pauie nods in understanding "And you want to go with them."

Beau nods " I mean, if you don't mind...."

"No, we can go." Paulie  says, trying to stifle a yawn and failing miserably.

"You look like you' re about to fall asleep on your feet, let's just go home. I can go get drinks with the guys some other time." Beau says.

Paulie shakes his head "Go have fun."

"I want you to go home and sleep if you're tired though."   
  
"I'll be fine babe."   
  
Beau sighs, thinking for a minute before coming up with an idea he thinks is brilliant "Why don't I go with Sid and he can drop me off at your house afterwards or I can stay with him for the night?"   
  
Paulie nods "That’s fine with me." He pulls Beau in close, placing a gentle kiss on his lip "I love you."   
  
"I love you too." Beau says as he walks to Sid.

Sid turns "Hi Sunshine."

"Hi. Um, Paulie's pretty tired so he's not going out tonight but I still want to, would it be okay if I ride with you and have you drop me off later?"   
  
"Of course sunshine." Sid says, grabbing his arm "Let's head over now."

-

About 20 minutes later they pull up to the bar and everything is going great.......until Beau heads for the bathroom.    
  
He's gone for 10 minutes before Sid decides to go check on him, when he opens the bathroom door he sees two bigger guys pinning Beau to the wall.

Beau's forehead is bleeding and Sid can see the tears spilling down Beau's cheeks. He turns to go get help,since there's no way he'll be able to pull the guys off by himself. As he walks back out the door,  he hears Beau's cries and it lights a fire in him. 

- 

He runs back to where the rest of the guys are, grabbing Downs and Geno, yanking them towards the bathrooms.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Downs asks.

"Beau needs our help." Sid says.

"With what?"    
  
"He's...." Sid begins as he feels tears pool in his own eyes.

"Sunshine in trouble." Geno says and Sid nods.   
  
"Two big guys have him pinned to the wall and are taking turns hitting him, I 'm not big enough or strong enough to get them away from him on my own."

Geno nods and Downs breaks away from Sid, running into the bathroom and latching on to one of the guys.

Geno follows and grabs the other one while Sid grabs Beau, who's visibly shaking, and leads him outside.

Sid sits down on the  ground and motions for Beau to sit with him, Beau hesitates before slowly sitting down.

Sid pulls him close and rubs a hand through his hair.    
  
He feels like he's going to puke when he sees his hand covered in blood.

"We need to get you to the hospital." Sid says calmly, knowing how much Beau hates hospitals.

Beau doesn't say anything, just carefully stands up and allows Sid to lead him to the car.

-

They get to the hospital a little later and Sid helps Beau out of the car, opting to carry him when he realizes how much trouble Beau is having walking.

About  20 minutes later, Beau's settled in a room. Sid  calls Paulie ,who's a frantic mess, and explains what happened. Their call is cut short by a phone call coming from the police station.

Turns out,  Geno  and Downs beat the guys to within an inch of their lives and were now in jail.

"Beau? Buddy I need to leave for a bit are you okay with that?"   
  
Beau shakes his head, wincing a little at the pain it causes, tears rolling down his cheeks "Please stay."  

He sounds so broken that Sid doesn't have the heart to leave even though he needs to go bail Geno and Downs out.    
  
_They can wait_   he thinks , _right now Beau needs me more_ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor sunshine :( luckily he has momma bear Sid to protect him, along with his vicious guard dogs Evgeni and Steve.
> 
> let me know what you think so far and what you think will happen!


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MORE MENTIONS OF ASSAULT. 
> 
> I hope this chapter makes sense, i tried to fit a lot into it. Please let me know if it's too confusing!
> 
> Enjoy and comment! :D

Sid s pends the night  with Beau ,  leaving to go bail Geno and Downs out of jail  when he realizes Paulie's there . He probably should have gone sooner, but he couldn't leave Beau alone with a bunch of strangers, especially considering the trauma he'd just endured.

-

Sid pulls up to the Police Station a half hour later and walks in.

"How can I help you?" A short, overly tanned and very.....curvy, woman asks. 

If he's being honest, she kind of looks like an oompa loompa from Willy Wonka.    
  
He doesn't say that  out loud though , knowing how important it is for him to maintain his image. Instead he asks where Geno and Downs are and what bail is set at.

"You think you can bail them out? They assaulted two men." She says.

"I'm well aware of what they did, are you aware of what the other men did?" He asks, getting quietly pissed off.

She pops her gum "Nope. And I don't really care, they were brought in for assault. It doesn't much matter what the other men did."   
  
"It should considering the other men assaulted someone else."   
  
"Uh huh, nice try but I'm not stupid, you're just trying to save your friends."   
  
"I can provide you with proof of injury if you'd like."   
  
She shakes her head "I'd need to speak with the "victim" in question."

"He was just assaulted and you expect him to want to talk about it? Are you insane?!"

"Sir, you need to calm yourself down or you'll be back in that cell with your friends."   
  
Sid just shakes his head, angrily "I'd like to speak with your boss."   
  
"Sure thing. But he'll tell you exactly what I just told you" She says, standing up and walking away, coming back a few minutes later with an older man.

"Sir, what can I help you with?" He says

"I'm here to bail out a couple of people, Evgeni Malkin and Steve Downie. This woman is telling me they can not be bailed out."   
  
The man nods "Excuse her, she's new. Bail is $8,000 for the pair. They were brought in on assault charges, both claim it was in defense of someone else but they're refusing to provide a name. I'm assuming you're not the victim in question?"   
  
Sid shakes his head "I'm not, but I can provide you photographs of his injuries."   
  
"I need a name in order to arrest these men. I f i  don't have a name  and proof of injury for the victim, my hands are tied."   
  
Sid nods "Can I bail these two out now?"   
  
"Yes." He says, turning and walking to a cell  "Malkin! Downie! Bail has been posted, you're free to go!"

-

"Thanks Sid" Downs says as they get in the car.

"You're welcome ." Sid says, "Hurry up and get buckled,  we're going up to the hospital."   
  
-

They walk into Beau's room just as he's waking up.

He tries to sit up but winces in pain, laying back down. "Hi guys." He says

"Hi sunshine. How ya feeling?" Downs asks, carefully sitting on the edge of the bed, running a hand through Beau's hair.

Beau doesn't respond but it's obvious he's in pain. The nurse walks in at that moment.

"Alright, well I've got your x-rays and scans back." She says, "Good news, no internal bleeding. Bad news, you have a concussion, 3 broken ribs, a broken ankle and deep bone bruises. You'll probably be off the ice for at least 2 months, if not longer depending on how your concussion recovery goes. "   


Tears stream down Beau's cheeks and the nurse turns away, walking out the door mumbling an "I'm sorry."

-

Three days later, Beau's released from the hospital . Unfortunately, the men that assaulted him skipped town and are  no where  to be found.

-

It takes a while for Beau to adjust to not being able to do  anything  and for Paulie to adjust to having to help Beau with everything but they manage.    
  
Beau's getting some much needed rest when his phone rings, Paulie makes a quick grab for it before the noise can wake Beau up.

He slides out of bed carefully, taking the phone with him and seeing the missed call. It's from Shane, Beau's younger brother. A closer look tells Paulie there's also several texts, all some form of "Are you okay?" Or "What the hell happened?"

Paulie sighs, quickly dialing Shane's number.

He answers on the second ring "Oh thank god."   
  
Paulie clears his, suddenly very dry, throat. "Shane? It's Paulie.  I  know you'd probably rather talk to Beau but he's sleeping right now and I feel like you should know what's going on."   
  
"Is he okay?" Shane asks, and Paulie can tell he's on the verge of a panic attack.

"He'll be fine." Paulie assures " He's got a concussion, a few cracked ribs, a broken ankle and some bruises."   
  
"What happened to him?"    
  
Paulie gulps, feeling guilty. "He went out with some of our teammates a few days ago, after a fundraiser. I went home because I was exhausted but he still wanted to go, I wasn't about to tell him no."   
  
Shane stays quiet, a silent signal for Paulie to keep going.   
  
"I guess he got up to use the bathroom and after about 10 minutes, he still  hadn't  come back. Sid went in to check on him, and two guys had him pinned to the wall, taking turns beating him. Sid ran and got two of our other teammates, Geno and Downs. They went in,  grabbed the guys and started beating them  while Sid took Beau to the hospital." Paulie says, crying by the end of it.

There's a long silence  and for a second  Paulie thinks Shane  hung  up, until he hears his voice again.

"It's not your fault."   
  
"Yes it is."   
  
"No It's not! You went home to go to bed, you didn't know that was going to happen!"   
  
Paulie's taken aback by how much  anger  is lacing Shane's voice. He doesn't respond and he hears Shane sigh.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scream at you it's just, it's not your fault. I hate it when people blame themselves for things they can't control." Shane says. 

Paulie can tell the apology is genuine, even if completely unnecessary."It's fine."   
  
There's an awkward silence until Shane clears his throat. "Well, tell Beau I said hi and I hope he feels better. Have him call me when he's feeling up to it."   
  
"Will do." Paulie says. ".......I hope we can talk again, under better circumstances."   
  
Shane laughs "Definitely. Bye Paulie."   
  
"Bye Shane." 


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> few mentions of "the incident", nothing detailed though.

3 months later, Beau's finally cleared from his concussion and is back at practice.

When he and Paulie walk into the locker room for practice, it's empty.

"Where is everybody?" Beau asks and Paulie shrugs

"No clue" He says, signaling for everyone to come out.

"SURPRISE!" The guys say as they walk into the middle of the room. "Welcome back Sunshine!"   
  
Sid walks over to Beau and engulfs him in a hug  "Glad you're back Beau. We missed you."    
  
"I missed you too." Beau says, relaxing into the hug. Since that night he hasn't really let anyone but Paulie touch him so Sid grabbing him scared him a little.

Sid must notice he's uncomfortable, because he let's go and takes about 3 steps back away from Beau. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."   
  
Beau shakes his head, "It's fine." He says, walking to his stall and sitting down to get ready for practice.

-

Practice is going fine, until Beau's gets hit by Downs. He drops to the ice and practice stops.

Mike skates over and kneels down next to him, helping him sit up. "Are you alright?" He asks.

Beau doesn't answer but he's hyperventilating  and  shaking.

_Panic attack_   Mike thinks, luckily he knows how to deal with it. He moves Beau back to the boards and presses a hand on Beau's chest.

"Breathe, you're alright." He says and Beau starts to relax a little "There we go, you're okay it was just Steve. He won't hurt you."   
  
It takes a few more minutes for his breathing to even out and for him to stop shaking, but he's alright. 

Mike gives him the rest of practice off and Downs comes over "Sunshine? I'm sorry,  i  didn't think I'd scare you like that."   
  
"It's okay. I guess  i'm  just....paranoid."   
  
"You have every right to be paranoid after what you went through. But can  i  make a suggestion?"   
  
Beau nods "Sure..."   
  
"I think it might be good for you to go see someone and talk about what happened. That might help you."

"You think I need to see a psychologist?"   
  
Downs nods "I'm not saying it to be an asshole, I'm saying it as a concerned friend and teammate. How do you expect to play if you flinch everytime anybody comes near you? I'm not saying you can’t be scared or paranoid after what you just went through, but you need to try and push that to the back of your mind, so you can focus on what you love. Talking to someone who's not a friend or family member, may help you overcome that trauma."   
  
"Okay. I'll try, I promise."   
  
"Good" Downs says, gap-toothed smile and all, arms outstretched "Hug?"   
  
Beau hesitates, before nodding slightly, allowing Steve to engulf him in a bear hug. 

-

Later on, when Beau and Paulie are cuddling on the couch, Paulie asks what Downs and Beau were talking about at practice.

"Downs thinks I should go see somebody, to talk about what happened. He thinks that maybe by talking to someone, I 'll be able to overcome the trauma and play the way I need to." Beau says, not particularly wanting to have this conversation.

After a few quiet moments, "I have to say I agree with Downs on this one babe, talking to someone might help you a lot, and I love you and I understand what you went through was horrible, but you can't flinch every time anyone comes near you. Maybe talking about what happened and coming to terms with it will help you and make you less jumpy."   
  
Beau nods slightly "You're probably right. Maybe I'll look into it more tomorrow." He yawns, rubbing his eyes "for now, can we go to bed? Practicing  for the first time in  3 months really fucked me up."

Paulie laughs, "Yeah, we can head up to bed."    
  
Beau heads up the stairs and collapses onto the bed, Paulie right behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i tried to figure out how you deal with someone having a panic attack but i didn't really figure it out completely, so i'm sorry if it's inaccurate.


End file.
